Across the Tracks—Vlach Gypsies in Hungary: Disappearing World (Enhanced DVD)

Product Description:

In Budapest during the 1980s Gypsy families struggled to exist in Hungary, which had turned to communism.

While the families cling to their roots and traditions, they find themselves assimilating with society around them, and turmoil grows within. Each chapter in this film focuses on different aspects of Gypsy life.

This film shows the life of the families in near-squalid conditions and pulls aside the romantic veil that colors the view of Gypsies by man people. The reality is much more harsh, and it has forced some members of society to conform with regular careers and joining the ranks of other peasants, or "gazo" and experiencing discrimination from the Hungarians. Many in the Gypsy community still live on settlements on the other side of the tracks despite attempts to break into normal Hungarian society.

Viewers of this DVD will learn about how some Gypsies resist assimilation and try to support themselves and their families by performing casual labor. These groups lives just inside -- and sometimes outside -- the law as they cling to traditions such as horse trading in communist Hungary. However, the Gypsy community still remains strong despite the hardships and change the two families face.

This film is part of the Disappearing World series.

Across the Tracks—Vlach Gypsies in Hungary: Disappearing World